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Tuesday, December 30, 2014

On the Road with SCP - Norty or Nice- Amanda Ward

NORTY OR NICE

Blurb

What happens when Santa’s ‘nice daughter’ Natalie decides she’s
had enough of mucking out reindeer stalls and attempts living life on the
‘norty’ side?

Answer…her guardian Rudy decides, once and for all, to take Natalie Claus in
his more than capable—hands. To show her that she can be the naughty girl she
desires to be, but only with him. When she discovers the beast inside of him,
will she run away or harness him to her?

With a tinkling of bells and plenty of snogging under the mistletoe, Rudy
unleashes a side to Natalie that she has never felt before. Join this couple on
the ride of their life as the good girl finally finds her naughty side.

Love and laughter await Natalie on the sleigh ride of romance, but is everyone
who they appear to be?

Excerpt One

“I wish just for one Christmas, I could be the
naughty one and get away with it like my sister does!”

As she said her wish out loud, a shooting star
crossed the sky, landing with a whoosh
and hiss in the cold snow. Natalie
pulled up her long red dress and trudged through the deep piles to where a
small crater had melted a well through the snow. Using her rarely-used power of
frost, she cooled the piece of metal lying there with her breath and watched as
her magic turned it from something grey and unformed into a glittering frost
necklace, interspersed with red jewels. Natalie picked it up and placed it
around her neck. A feeling of recklessness surged through her. With a click of
her fingers, Natalie Claus disappeared.

Natalie was single-minded as she attempted a
confident walk over to where the object of her planned seduction stood. She
smiled to herself, wondering if anyone there realized that the virginal
daughter of Father Christmas was walking amongst them, let alone that the bad
one was. Natalie looked back at where her sister had been.

Excerpt
Two

“She’s gone again,” Natalie whispered under her
breath. Pulling herself together, she wobbled slightly on the high heels and
concentrated on putting one foot in front of another without falling over. Heel, toe. Heel, toe...Hello? Natalie’s
head snapped back and she looked up, up and up. He towered over her, the hint
of a smile on his full lips as his amber gaze met her green sparkling one.

“Can I help you?” His voice was deep and rough. The
sound of it sent jolts of excitement through Natalie’s untried body.

“Yes, you can,” she said in a breathy soft tone.
The man leaned down so he could hear her speak. As he did, Natalie seized her
chance. She reached up on tip-toe and placed her lips on his. At his lack of
response, Natalie pulled away. She turned on her heel. Rather wobbly and
mortified, she fled as fast as her short legs would let her, grabbing the
bottle of champagne from the bar.

“Look at me, Nat, look at me!”

Her head snapped back. His eyes were dark brown,
hinting at suppressed anger.

“I am not a thing,”
he told her. “I am your lover and your mate. You and I have been destined to be
together since you were born.”

“That’s rot,” Natalie spat back, trying to get out
of his arms.

“Really? Look at this, then.” Pulling her to a
mirror, he pointed out a small red heart shape above her breast. On Rudy’s
chest, there was an identical mark. “This only happens when two mates become
one. Which you and I did just now.”

“Impossible. It’s wrong on so many levels. You
aren’t human,” Natalie cried.

“I am human. I am your protector, your lover. The
other half of you,” Rudy insisted. “I take the form of a reindeer to protect
you. The heart that beats here…” He took her hand, pressing it against his
chest. “…It’s human, like yours is. I just come with something extra.” When he
loosened his grip on her, Natalie stole her chance.

“And I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life
mucking out your stable?”

Clicking her fingers, Natalie Claus disappeared in
a glimmer of snowflakes.

Amanda Ward lives in Bedfordshire, England
with her husband, three children and two insane cats. The expression ‘What you
see is what you get’, sums her up perfectly.
She is the author of the novel Without Saying A Word with Books To Go Now and
The MisAdventures of Pann Haggerty with Secret Cravings Publishing.She is a member of the Romance Novelists
Association (RNA). There is always some
moment waiting around the corner to be written into a novel.

Her interests include a passion for history, romance novels, cooking, and
science fiction. Of course not forgetting the great and wonderful Doris
Day musicals.

A perfect afternoon for Amanda would be a pot of tea, plenty of biscuits with a
Doris Day film on the telly. Shared with great friends and her amazingly
tolerant mother in law.